Dan Larimer's Path From Working On Weapons To Minting Crypto Riches

This story appears in the February 28, 2018 issue of Forbes.
Subscribe

Dan Larimer

Dan Larimer has cofounded three blockchain platforms.

Dan Larimer

Chief Technology Officer, Block.one

Crypto Net Worth: $600 million-$700 million*

Computer programmer Dan Larimer used to be a cog in America's military-industrial complex, working on defense projects, drones and unmanned vehicles for companies like Raytheon and Torc Robotics. But in 2007, the Virginia Tech graduate says, he had an existential crisis.

"Philosophically, I wanted to move from working on weapons of destruction to creating systems that could help provide life, liberty and property for mankind," says Larimer, 35.

In 2013, Larimer started BitShares, a crypto-exchange managed by a community instead of a single authority. In 2016 he left to pursue a new idea for a blockchain-based social network, Steemit, where users are rewarded with tokens for posting and curating content. Over the past two months, Steemit's coin (called Steem) has surged, pushing its value to $1.4 billion.

Larimer has since joined forces with Brendan Blumer (see above) to start Block.one.

*All cryptocurrency/U.S. dollar conversions are as of January 19, 2018.